Abstract
This paper discusses a putative sound change in the early history of Latin and synchronic alternations apparently related to it. The lowering of short high vowels before the rhotic is problematic on several counts; so much so that serious doubt has been cast on its reality. On the other hand, due to widespread alternations in the morphophonology of Classical Latin it is reasonable to assume that such a lowering operated as a synchronic rule at that stage. A minor asymmetry in the relevant alternations of verbal affixes in infectum-based vs. perfectum-based formations presents an interesting problem to which I suggest two tentative explanations.
Highlights
All historical discussions of the Latin sound system or morphological system, as well as several studies of a narrower scope, mention a sound change in which the short high vowels were lowered to mid vowels before the rhotic, Early Latin [ir], [ur] > [er], [or]
The first question concerns the precise segmental environment of the lowering; to wit, whether it was triggered by all [r]'s or only those resulting from rhotacism, another Early Latin sound change whereby *V[s]V > V[r]V
In this paper I have briefly outlined two possible and tentative explanations for this: the difference can be captured in levelordered derivational models by assigning the two morphological subsystems to two different levels; but it can be captured as a property that follows from quantitative patterns that differentiate infectum stems and perfectum stems as phonological environments, which exert different conditioning influence on allomorph choice
Summary
All historical discussions of the Latin sound system or morphological system, as well as several studies of a narrower scope, mention a sound change in which the short high vowels were lowered to mid vowels before the rhotic, Early Latin [ir], [ur] > [er], [or].1 This change is interesting for two reasons. All historical discussions of the Latin sound system or morphological system, as well as several studies of a narrower scope, mention a sound change in which the short high vowels were lowered to mid vowels before the rhotic, Early Latin [ir], [ur] > [er], [or].1. The other is that pervasive vocalic alternations in the Latin morphological system (presented below in section 3.1 and, more fully, in Cser 2015, 2020) appear to derive from it. It is the goal of this paper to critically review the various descriptions of this putative change in order to understand how exactly it unfolded and how it relates to the attested morphophonological alternations; but, more importantly, it is my goal here to explain why. It is possible to give such an explanation in a rule-based framework (as in section 3.2) as well as in a pattern-based, quantitative approach (as in section 3.3), though both will be presented here only semi-formally
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